Back for more.....

BiBinhio is back for more....

I do have this funny habit of blogging avidly and then dying off for a few months 2gether......I jst hope i dont do it again.....

I'm in Manipal now...Manipal Institute of Communication 2 b more precise....And life sure as hell is rockin....

Times change and I've also changed slightly.... I jst dont knw wat 2 blog on now!!!....

Neway sports is 4ever present.....

Manchester United are finally gettin there... the 4 match streak of 4 goals with a 2-2 draw against ARSEnal (which we shuld hav won) and then another 4 goals against Kiev, followed by a 2-0 win over high flyin Blackburn.....yes, The Red Devils are playin their best football of the season... rooney and Tevez are gettin on well but the 4 week injury layoff for Rooney is a bit of a worry.... Ronaldo is gettin back 2 his best...but i miss Scholes's presence on the pitch...But 1 last word on Man U....the way Giggs played against Blackburn was breathtaking......I love ya Giggsy....

The Baron Davis vs the Dallas Mavericks shootout I saw while I was back in tvm was 2 good....
All the shots that Baron was makin....shit man....and then Jason Terry, J-Stack and Dirk comiin back and doin the same....it was 2 good....

And finally.....Federer's foundations r beginning 2 shake....its abt time!!!!....Lets go Nalbandian and Djokovic and Ferrer and Nadal and Canas and Roddick and Davydenko and every1 else.....Stop the Swizz express....

So much 4 now.....

Jst abt had enuf....

b back soon...

BiBinhio.

T20 - 'Feverish' excitement...

Its been a long time since my last blog post, but during those months of 'inactivity' i've been busy with other things...

For 1, i've been busy with photos and posting on flickr.
My Page: http://www.flickr.com/bibinhio

For another, I've started college life and am enjoying life at Manipal Institute of Communication! But from Manipal i've been forced to come back to trivandrum with a fever that has taken me 2 and a half weeks to shake off. I'll probably be leaving for Manipal again tomorrow, and since this is the last day when i have access to the net without having to pay 4 it, i thought i'd blog again!

Now since the title goes T20 - 'Feverish' excitement, I've got 2 mention the world cup, don't I?...But i hope by now, everyone would have understood the 'feverish' part!...

But 2 say T20 has consumed the imagination of legions of cricket fans around the globe, would be putting it light, very light!!!... Frankly speaking, the inaugural match between the hosts S.A and the Carribean 'Kings' was a bit boring - cricket wise. Slap bang cricket, but still, it was a no contest between the bat and ball. Yet, Chris Gayle's massive hitting deserves a mention... a 101 m 6!...How Sir Viv Richards wuld hav enjoyed this form of the game!... Hate to think of the bowlers who'd have to bowl to him though!!!...

India vs Pakistan, a game that never fails to shock you every time... and yet this one at the T20 world cup was a shock bigger even than 9-11, one could say!... The fact that the Pak skipper Shoaib Malik and the coach, the 'experienced' Geoff Lawson did not know about the possibility of a shoot-out is something remarkable and even more foolish!...

But the game of the tournament so far, just because of the unbelievable nature of it, has to be little David(Zim) slaying the mighty Goliath(Aus)!... In there first ever world cup match back in 1983 an inspired Zimbabwe defeated Australia, and now in their first T20 World cup match, they've done the same, and to the same old adversary again!...Its a shame they were knocked out though.

Its a bit early to say who's gonna win... India is in a strong group along with the Black Caps, the hosts and the brewery happy Queen's men!!!... The mighty kangaroos look ready to hop back into form and the Lankan Lions are roaring led right from the front by the 38 years young Sanath Jayasuriya!... Pakistan could yet be a force to reckon with as long as Shahid Afridi fires and the Bangladeshi Tigers are as much a pushover as USA or China at the Olympics!!!!!...

Any of the eight teams could win it from here...but two things are for sure, I'll be supporting India and I'm not likely to at all get bored in the process...T20, Cricket's answer to the global brand of football...

Cheers.

BiBinhio.

Anyone but Federer....pls.....

The pre-emminent tennis championships of the world....WIMBLEDON!!!... Wimbledon Male Single's Trophy(Challenge Cup)
ALL THAT MATTERS!

Roger Federer.... what can I say about him, but, superhuman... And yet, when I sit back and think about that statement that I have just made, I begin to think...superhuman?....Federer???

Take a look at the times when tennis was played the way it is supposed to be played....The era of the greats...the era of the fine art called 'serve and volley'. Names of legends spring to mind...Borg, Edberg, Becker, Mcenroe, Connors, Lendl, Courier and finally the peach of the lot - Pete Sampras...

Well yeah, Nadal reached last years final...Yeah Roddick plays best on grass... Yeah Djocovic could turn out to be a young pretender...but still the fact remains...none of these players are,at the moment of the same class as say a Becker or a Macenroe or a Connors or an Agassi.

But that does not mean that I am questioning Federer's talent...no way...All I'm saying is, to say that he is a better player than Pistol Pete or Borg, based on these four(and maybe five) crowns is rubbish!...

People compare Federer's four year unbeaten streak at Wimbledon to that of Sampras and Borg. But while Borg battled the likes of Becker and Edberg and Mcenroe and Connors and Lendl en-route to winning those five crowns and Sampras went through Becker and Ivanisevic and Courier and Agassi and Rafter among others, Roger Federer has as major opposition - no one!!!!...

Would he have displayed this same level of consistency and domination had he come up in the time when Sampras was at his peak???...People could debate yes, but I very much doubt it. But do remember...a young Fed-ex with long hair held up by a bow, did stop Pistol Pete's attempt at one last hurrah at Wimbledon, back when Sampras was looking to equal Borg's record of ruling the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Championships for five straight years.

But by that time, Sampras was past his best...Without a doubt Federer defenitely isn't at the moment...But still that same dream of Sampras that a young Swizz by the name of Roger Federer thwarted, is the same one that he is going for this time...Could we find a new, young dark horse, springing up and spoiling the Swizz maestro's party???...Again, I very much doubt it.....But I sure hope so!!!...

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

- BiBinhio.

Is it 2 young 2 fall in LOVE???...

It is quite a modern fashion statement for a bloke to say to a girl...Heh, I love you... Many say it so many times that finally its just like wishing someone a good day for them... And the extraordinary stuff is that girls take it in that way as well....well, most of them aneway....

U know Malayalis and Indians at large are so proud and boastful of our great and rich cultural heritage... But the way the present upcoming generation is headed, the ancient customs and beliefs will soon become just that - EXTINCT!!!... Arranged marriages are already a thing of the past...And at the rate of modernization that we are going through, sex before marriage(and plenty of it) will become just as customary as brushing your teeth before sleep(well if that is the case, then maybe there's a chance - coz i'm not 2 particular abt that!!!...but then u get the idea!!!...)...

Nowadays if a guy or a girl in their early twenties goes home and tells their parents that they're in love with someone, then 9 out of 10 times the parents will be ready to listen and go along with the wishes of their 'mature' wards...Just take the example of my brother.... One fine morning, (well night actually) he calls our parents together and tells them that he is in love with a classmate of his and that he wants to marry her. There is no caste difference and anything, so pretty soon his marriage is fixed and 3 years later they're married and have already completed a year of being together(God save my sis-in-law!!!!:-D)...

But still the question remains...When does a boy and a girl decide that: "Yeah, we've got something good and serious going on here...Maybe this should be more than just another relationship..." some oldtimers will say that falling in love is not good at any age, until and unless one is engaged to the mate in concern. Any modern-day, practical parent you ask will probably say that you have to be atleast 21!!!... To them I say - I respect your views a lot, but if I can help decide who rules the nation at the age of 18, then why can't I make this decision at that age as well???...

This has got all the hallmarks of being a great topic for a national debate, but then there's yet another point I'd like to make...

The Indian judiciary has named 18 as the minimum age for marriage for girls... Now does that not mean that girls have the right to decide who they wanna live with(i.e. who their lover is) by that age???... The government and the judiciary has also toyed with the idea of bringing down that age limit to 15 for girls and 18 for boys...That idea was even implemented for a few days in a state... Now if that idea has gone through such scrutiny, then does that not mean that the idea has some sort of factual basis behind it???... Then, maybe we can say that yeah kids around the age of 15 can decide whom they wanna fall in love with...

Now, there are a lot of views expressed above, of which I believe in none!!!... I believe that there is no age for falling in love...One 'can' fall in love at age 18 and just as surely one 'can' fall in love at age 81!!!... Why everyone who is born into this world falls in love from the second that they open their eyes... The first love of any man, woman, boy or girl is defenitely their mother...

But when one talks of love as being the emotion that one feels towards a life partner, age I believe, is no barrier... As Gregory Robert Joseph says in his book 'Shantharam', when one meets the person you are meant to be with in your life, you just know it... The first time you see each other, or the first time you speak or whatever, you feel a sort of connection, an invisible bond, just like the one a newborn baby senses towards its mother... Now, my seniors will probably think, God how did he come to know all this.......................

To them I say:

I READ!!!...

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

- BiBinhio.

The week that was... or wasn't...

Rollercoaster ride......the best way to describe the week that was....or wasn't....

What with a nasty fever coupled with Real Madrid winning the Spanish title after the longest drought in their history, and also the amazing young Brit Lewis Hamilton once again upstaging Alonso, and ex-Loyolite Sankar's top performance in the duet round of the reality show Super Dancer on Amrita, the week was a long list of what was and also what wasn't!!!!....

But then....I'm not doing justice to Real Madrid am i???...."Down and out"...the words ESPN pundit Jamie Reeves used to describe Real's title hopes this season back in March...And few could blame Jamie then...Real were so back behind arch rivals F.C.Barcelona and Sevilla that a comeback seemed a task worthy of Ethan Hunt(Mission Impossible style)... And yet, on Sunday, in front of the very same Tom Cruise who played Ethan Hunt in the MI series, Fabio Capello's men gave as best as they got and more to steamroll past Mallorca and lift the Spanish Primera Liga for the first time since David Beckham arrived at the club...

Back in March it was humiliating as a Real fan to go to the Real Madrid community on orkut...There were 'fans' of the club there so disgusted with the way the club was playing that they were routinely and clinically rubbishing each and everyone at the club and none more than the coach Capello and the captain Raul...'Raul is old'...'Raul is past his best'...'Raul is no longer the finisher he once was'...all this were routine comments(the 'postable' ones shall i say)...Coach Capello was getting a different kind of stick...'Capello is gay'...'Capello takes Emerson everywhere with him...they must be gay partners'....this was what was being said about the coach....And the irony is that now, the same people, at the same forum, are lauding Capello and Raul and praying that Capello will not get sacked by the club........ I've grown used to the fickle mindedness of the average Indian when it comes to the cricket team, but i never expected this from foreigners....Or maybe too many people in that community might be Indians...talk anout the tech bloom in India!!!...

Now on to Sankar and the way his body is grooving and moving and taking over theway the competition it can be said with his dance in the Melody round, dancing to the tune of Vennilave, vennilave. He then followed it up with a high paced, highly innovative number in his duet round with his partner Chippi also chipping in smashingly!!!... What do I say about Sankar...He was a good dancer at school, he was a great dancer when he passed out of school and now he is a SUPER DANCER.........as Faasil calls him - THE DANCING PRINZ....ROCK ON BROTHER...

Now i believe Sankar is 20...but a man 2 years older than him was stealing headlines around the world with his unbelieavably awesome performances on the race track...Yes, Lewis Hamilton has been groomed from the age of 11 to be an F1 driver and yes, he is in what seems to be the fastest car at the moment, (God i hate to admit that...come on Ferrari!!!) but still his teammate is the 2 time defending champ Fernando Alonso and yet Hamilton managed to stave off his challenge for the whole U.S.Grand Prix... Even hardcore Alonso fans(pity them) must admit that little boy wonder Lewis made 'Alonso' look like a rookie while going into turn 1 of the Canadian Grand Prix, the week before.

And after the good start that Lewis had to the season I was wondering when Alonso would become the crybaby that he really is...and wolla...it didn't take long did it...."Mommy......Maclaren are favouring Hamilton because he is a Brit".....Well Mister Alonso why the hell did you leave Renault then???...Oh thaat's right....U fell out with the boss over pretty much similar reasons eh?...It seems as though for Alonso to win, everything has to be just perfect, he needs to have the best car and no one, not even his team-mate should have a similar car....Not hallmarks of a great champion are they???...

And elsewhere in the world of sports, the San Antonio Spurs became just the 4th club ever to win 4 or more NBA titles and thereby create a mini dynasty since winning the trophy for the first time back in 1999... It was the 4th title for Tim Duncan and also for coach Greg Poppovich at San Antonio...Tony Parker took away the MVP award in a series which was a 4-0 whitewash of the Cleveland Cavaliers, first in an NBA final since the early 90's, i believe. This triumph was the 7th title for mercurial power forward Robert Horry and also the first for veteran Michael Finley who moved to the club last season and ended up getting the game-ball as a souvenir from his mates...

But then finally the week belonged to someon that very very few Indians(let alone foreigners) had heard of.... This person was so very well known that all the news channels and news papers, including those of the Indian government itself, had to run a profile check and profile report on her for the sake of themselves and the watching public... I am ofcourse talking about the person who is all set to become India's first woman President - Pratibha Patil (if the spelling is wrong, well, u get the point....).

("I will not be a puppet President" - meaning she already knows that she is!!!)...

Rajasthan Governor...Former Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha....Cabinet Minister of the Maharashtra Assembly a few times...and now Madam President???...Her Biggest Claim To Fame: she has TWICE opposed Sharadh Pawar......that's it......just opposed......And yeah she did send back the controversial Religious Freedom bill while she was Governor of Rajasthan...But to flaunt her around as our next President is simply unthinkable - George Bush Jr. might have been a better candidate... I'm not against having a woman president or anything....I am someone who feels that Hillary Clinton should be the next U.S. President(wow...Bill Clinton : the 1st Gentleman - awesome!!!)... But then if say Indira Gandhi were not dead and one fine morning the Congress were to announce her as the president then great...but Pratiba Patil?????.....The Left front has won big here...they have prooved that the UPA government has got no backbone...They rejected each and every one of the 6-7 candidates that the UPA put up...rejected...no...vetoed would be better...And in the end the Congress says that Mrs. Patil is the best man(or woman- as the case may be) for the job???...So is every Indian supposed to believe that Mrs. Patil is better and more capable than Dr. Kalam or Dr. Karan Singh or even Vice President - Bairon Singh Shekhawat???... Any kid in UKG will tell you an emphatic no!!!...What is the world coming to???...With this one major decision, India could slide down many

a rung, prestige wise in the international political scene...

It may be a long shot...but I for one, sure hope that President Kalam gets a second term...Now there's a man of real substance and vision...A real PRESIDENT!!!...


(Re-elect ME pls!!!)...

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam...